Mayor Hohenleitner
Atlantic Highlands Councilman James T. Murphy has dropped the complaints he filed against the Monmouth County Board of Elections along with former Councilwoman Lori Hohenleitner’s election as Mayor and other officials. This confirms that Mayor Lori Hohenleitner is officially the Mayor of Atlantic Highlands for a four year term.
Although Council Member Murphy did not respond to a request for a statement shortly after the news was released, it appears that Murphy is accepting the 39 page decision from Superior Court Judge Mari Zazzalli which called for the attorneys for both candidates to meet in a joint discussion to determine what should be the next step in a legal battle which has been ongoing since November.
Mayor Hohenleitner responded to a request for a comment, saying “This is obviously a huge relief for me and I’m looking forward to focusing my full attention on my community, moving forward on the important business of Atlantic Highlands. This was not just stressful for me personally, but also for members of our community. I’m looking forward to turning the page, but this will be hard to forget. I hope our town will choose to move forward on a healing path. I am very grateful for my family and friends who have been unwavering in their support”.
When Hohenleitner won the election by a handful of votes, Murphy called for a recount. In that recount, she picked up one more vote and was leading by six votes. Murphy then challenged the rights of more than 30 local residents to cast ballots in the November election, and several were subpoenaed into court to prove they were legal residents, had the right to vote and did indeed vote in the borough. Mayor Hohenleitner then filed complaints charging several other persons who may have voted did not have the right to vote.
After two days of testimonies in Superior Court in Freehold, Judge Zazzalli released a 39 page ‘opinion’ that negated three votes each from both Hohenleitner’s and Murphy’s challenges. She then called for the two attorneys to meet to determine whether voters should be called in to report how they voted.
It is at this stage that Murphy chose not to ask residents to publicly swear to how they cast ballots and withdrew his complaints.
